Monday, May 31, 2010

HOLY HOTNESS! So last night we slept in the van. Let me tell you...we sweat off about 10lbs. each. haha. At about 1 in the morning we were woken by a street sweeper in the middle of Wal-Mart parking lot! It seemed like they were there for HOURS! It eventually cooled off and all in all it wasn't so bad. Brooke also had a SWEET dream last night. In the dream we were in the van in the very parking lot we were sleeping in, and our biological and church family was still surrounding the us, holding hands in prayer. What an awesome reminder that we were not alone sleeping in the middle of Illinois!Encounters:

Found Debbie in Walgreen's in Peoria and prayed for her husband, Harry's, ear. Believing that he is not longer in pain!

We walked around a mall Springfield for quite some time, passing an elderly woman sitting on a bench all by herself. After we chose a bench of our own down the hall from her she walked down to the bench right across from us and sat down again. So I (Brooke) jumped up and went over, sat by her, and started a conversation about what we were doing. She denied prayer but we still reminded her of her value in God's eyes. To which she replied, "I've been alive for a long time, Babe - 90 years! And this is my walk everyday." I don't know if she meant her faith walk or her physical walk through the mall. Either way, it was a blessing merely talking with her. My mom sent us this verse this morning and I really think it applies: Hebrews 3:2 "Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!"

Dani here! Ok. Yesterday I had the word "fish net" as a clue. Today we went to the mall and the first place we went was Dick's Sporting Goods. We stood by the fishing nets for a while and waited forever. No treasure was to be found in Dick's so we walked around the mall for a while. When we were ready to leave we walked back in Dick's again and went back to the fishing area. There was a man standing in the aisle right by the fish nets. I automatically felt like I was supposed to approach him. I went up to him and and told him what we were doing and if there was anything I could pray with him about. I could sense a real heaviness on him. His name was Tad and he started talking about how he hadn't seen his two year old son, Liam, for 2 months and 16 days. He was having problems with his ex-wife and custody issues. I prayed for him and when I was done Kiersten told him that God has a plan and purpose for his life and that things in his past didn't matter anymore. Even though "fish net" was the only clue I had I really feel like God gave me a feeling inside that I was supposed to approach him. Sometimes we don't have very many clues or any at all, but I believe God can tug on our hearts and let us know who his treasures are.

Hola! It's Kiersten :) We are all telling about our encounters. I just have to mention that we believe there are going to be so many that eventually we won't be able to blog about them all. Buuuut, today as we were leaving Dick's after praying for Tad, we were standing outside the store waiting for the rain to stop. We were about ready to leave, and Dani says, "guys, we need to wait 10 more minutes." So we did. And we were supposed to. I see this lady running in wearing a pink shirt and carrying a blue umbrella... which were clues. So we went up to her (Judy), told her she was highlighted and found out her mom was just put in the hospital with pneumonia and urinary tract infection. We prayed for complete healing and told her to talk to her mom to find out!

AND FINALLY... JUST NOW... while Brooke was typing the first story up there^ (as we sit on the floor of Barnes&Nobles), we had another! I had JUST written down livestrong bracelet because it randomly came to mind, and then saw a guy looking at books right next to us for a while. Saw the bracelet on his wrist as he turned to the side, grabbed Dani, we went and talked to him, prayed for his wife and her thyroid condition, and we believe she is healed!!!! God loves them so much.

Blessings/Fun Stuff:

Put our feet in the Mississippi. O yes. It wasn't all that magical though. Kinda gross.

Played frisbee under the St. Louis arch!!

When we were at the mall in Springfield, we were getting kind of discouraged as we were walking around, but finding no one. Then we passed a store where the music was pumping, and the lyrics said "DON'T STOP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING..." hahahah. Thanks, God. So we didn't. And ended up finding the treasures.

O... and we stopped at Mt. Olive... and went to the cemetery. Who knows why :D

Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done.bdk

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Mary, Zionsville, IN: Knew she had health problems and went her house.

Donna, Carmel, IN: Found her in the tuna aisle wearing a light blue collared shirt and prayed for her sister Janice who had lung cancer.

Paul and Clair, Bloomington, IL: Found them in aisle 2 of Kroger with bananas in their cart in McLean Co.

Natasha and baby Lilly, Rest stop off of I-74 in Illinois: nose piercing. Here's the thing about Natasha I (Dani) saw her when we went into the rest stop. I saw that she had a nose ring and just passed her by. In the bathroom I told God that if I was supposed to pray for her then put me in contact with her again. I walked outside and there she was. I got to pray for a blessing over their lives. :) It was wonderful.

Blessings:

We prayed that we would have great weather for this whole trip (specifically, no rain) and today we literally saw the clouds dissolve. When we went into Kroger it looked like it was going to storm outside. Fifteen minutes later when we exited the building the ground was soaked and water was dripping from the awning, yet the sky was blue and the sun was shining. Rain didn't touch us.

While here blogging in Panera we witnessed two women praying over their meal = encouragement for us :) So we went over and thanked them for the outward expression of faith and they blessed us, we blessed them, and carried on.

I (Kiersten) have decided that every time I have to go to the bathroom (which comes often), then God is using me and my "movements" haha! Because when we stop so that I can... go... we find more peoples. Yayaaaa.

Spending the night in Peoria tonight!!! I'm sure there will be more stories after we finish blogging this, but we are heading out! Panera closes... now.See ya!!

All this time we have been praying and fasting for a reliable, FREE van. So we've been watching and waiting for it because we knew God would provide. We had one opportunity to buy a van but it was old and not in very good shape (not to mention it wasn't free). Someone offered to let us use their RV buuuut we really didn't think that was what God had for us. We prayed for a van and we were waiting for a van basically.

Then, two weeks ago a lady from church said she was willing to let us use her minivan but her husband was still a little hesitant and all of us needed confirmation as to whether or not this was the one. Two days later that family had to take their minivan in to the shop for over a thousand dollars worth of repairs and that shot down that opportunity.

So we were back to praying and trusting that God would provide for us when my dad asked if we wanted to use my family's fifteen passenger van. Well, all along I had dismissed that as an option because I knew my family needed it on a daily basis. Here's the kicker: a few months ago my grandparents gave my parents a FREE CAR enabling my parents to loan us the van for the month!

Crazy, right?! All along the van we were praying and fasting for was sitting in my driveway! I heard someone put it this way at a Jesus Culture conference last weekend:

"The supply is there before the need ever hits you."

God saw this trip and started providing for it long before the dream had ever entered our minds.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Hi! So we would love for you to leave comment(s) about our posts. Even if you don't have a blog account you can do so by clicking the comment link at the end of each post, writing your comment, and then selecting "Name/URL" in the drop down box. That will bring up a window where you can enter your name (you don't have to enter a URL) and then leave us a comment, encouraging word, Bible verse, etc...

One night left in Lafayette, friends. Then it's almost 5 weeks across America!And as mentioned, we have our first destination... Carmel, IN. So here's how it has come to be:Two Wednesdays ago, me, Brooke, and Dani were praying for different things for our trip. We were also going treasure-hunting for people God wanted to pray for that night in Lafayette. When we finished praying, Brooke says, "I think we are supposed to go to Carmel first..."We all decided to pray for major confirmation about this. THAT NIGHT we went to Moe's, and Brooke saw a lady she knew from church. This lady was talking to her about the trip and mentioned that her mother-in-law lives in Carmel. yeaaaaaaah.We went to a conference that next weekend called JesusCulture, where Dani got the name Mary as we were doing outreach. (Just keep this random fact in mind).The next week (well, this last week) we began fasting for our trip, praying for confirmation about direction, safety, etc. Monday, I went over to my friends apartment to hang out, and we watched the show Glee. Haha... yes that is a random fact, but on the show (that I have never watched before) the high school is called Carmel High School. Once Glee was over, the real news came on where they were talking about Carmel school district and bus problems... so we are banking 3 mentions of Carmel thus far.The next day, I was walking and talking to God. I said, "God, if we are supposed to go to Carmel, I need something big." FIVE MINUTES after I told God this, Dani text me and said she was just talking to her roommate on the phone about this summer, and the roommate said she should come to Carmel. :DLast and final thing... Brooke and I got back to our house Thursday night and told our roommate Amy that we were praying about going to Carmel first. Amy said, "are you going there because Dave's mom lives there?" (Dave and Tina is who we are renting the house we live in from. Currently, his mom, MARY, has been battling some health problems with her heart, needing possible open-heart surgery. We have specifically been praying for her in our college group.) We text Tina asking if Mary really did live in Carmel because the address Tina gave to us a month ago said she did. Tina had accidentally written the wrong city down... Mary lives in Zionsville. So let's bank 5 mentions of Carmel now...And, uh... MARY is a "clue" Dani got last weekend :)Thus Carmel is the first stop... O and on the way we might be visiting Mary in Zionsville :)That's enough for me. Thanks, God.One last quick thing! I know I said it, but again, WE HAVE A VAN! It's a story in itself which Brooke will share eventually.Thank you and goodnight.Kier(woooohooooooo!)sten

Thursday, May 27, 2010

So...we have a van. We have our first destination.:DAND WE LEAVE IN THREE DAYS!!I think we should owe people an encounter with God.Matthew 10:8 "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!"Story: My nana wanted to give us money for the trip. She received 262 dollars in the mail, and when she opened the envelope she told me that God told her to give it to us. She wanted to give us the money but worried about her checking account getting low. So, she went to re-balance her checkbook and found that she had (EXACTLY) 262 dollars more in it than she had calculated before. WHAT!? So she knew that God did want her to give us the money in the mail. Crazy, I tell you. :)-Kier(Acts 20:24)sten

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Last fall when the vision for this trip had just begun to form we all decided to fast together for a week. We were fasting specifically for confirmation - for God to tell us whether or not this is His will for our summer - and we had decided not to tell anybody about the idea until we knew for sure it was God. The night before the fast began I had a dream about us talking to our youth pastor's wife: We were bubbling with excitement as we talked with her and she asked what was up, but we said we couldn't tell her the specifics yet. As our conversation ended and we began walking away I looked back at her and she said two words..."dream big."That was the night of October 26. I remember only because I felt the dream was significant so I documented it in my journal. That's not even the best part! On Thursday, May 13, I was driving to meet a friend for lunch. While doing so I was talking to Kiersten on the phone, and we were discussing the trip and all the excitement surrounding it. I pulled to a stop behind a car at a stoplight and my heart lept within me. "Stop talking!" I told Kiersten. She did and I proceded to tell her that the car in front of me had a big decal on the back window that said "Dream Big." Yes, you read that correctly. The very phrase our youth pastor's wife used in my dream months ago was written across the back of this car stopped right in front of me! Even now, two weeks from departure, God is confirming to us that this is all Him.I believe God is also saying that this whole trip is so much bigger than we could imagine! He has been planning this since the beginning of time. He is up to something HUGE and I for one am so excited to be a part of it! We may seem crazy. Our dreams for all that's going to happen may seem far-fetched. But I tell you the truth, God is not confined to the box of our understanding of this world. He goes beyond what we see as normal, predictable, and possible and orchestrates the supernatural, resulting in miracles, healings, restoration, salvation, and deliverance we never saw coming. Let it be!Dream big...and see heaven meet earth.-brooke

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Be encouraged!I'm finding faith to be something in my thoughts A LOT as this month approaches. I think it's such an incredible idea: sure of what is hoped for... certain of the unseen. I don't see a van. Or the people yet. Or how we're going to shower. Or if we'll have enough money to last us a whole month. I don't really know all we're going to need. But, God has provided over and over and over and over. He's THE BEST. Matthew 6:8I know He has asked us to take this trip. And honestly, I'm not really even sure how all of this has come to be what it is... that's got to be a God thing in itself. It's the very last commission Jesus gave before He left this earth. Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations. I am stoked... on fire, burning, anticipating, passionate, all of the above for what God will do! My desire is that God would use us in bringing love, truth, and healing to people of our country in June. And for those, like myself at times, that wonder if such things are possible... When the disciples had 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed 5,000 people... there wasn't a Wal-Mart around. It was a MIRACLE. All were fed. It was Jesus. And I just can't help but think that "moments" like that are what will define this trip. Because lately what I see and what I know are clashing. I like it :)Much love!Kier(you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one :)sten

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

It's the end of school and everyone has been asking me the same question. "What are you doing this summer?" I get so excited answering this question! I have been able to share about this trip with almost everyone I know including believers and non-believers. I get especially excited when non-believers ask me this question!! Just telling about the trip is a witness in itself. I have been able to reach out to so many people just by telling them about this trip. That is something I hadn't thought about until someone asked me what I was doing and I just blurted it all out. Some think it's really cool, some think we are crazy, and some just want to know more. It is just another way to share about God's love and His Word. I just wanted to share this with everyone because God is already using this trip in so many ways that I would have never imagined. I am so pumped.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

God has provided for this trip in huge ways already! Prayerful, financial, and other various donations have proven His faithfulness to us again and again. We still don't have a van but we have no doubt in our minds that one will be provided in His perfect timing.

Specific things we are praying for at this point (and would like you to join in praying with us) include:

Health - we believe that allergies, colds, flu, motion sickness, home sickness, nose bleeds, etc... will not be an issue at all. No hinderances to what God has to do :)

Miracles - we believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit we will see signs, miracles, and wonders. That the sick will be healed, the oppressed set free, and - dare I say it - the dead raised!

Direction - we have come to the conclusion that our general direction is west. Though we do want to travel Spirit-led, we would like some clue as to what states we should travel towards/through.